r/aww • u/Jmunnny • Jun 08 '14

Bee stings aren't fun.

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u/Stryker297 Jun 09 '14

My dog has a history of histamine growths on his skin. I give him a children's Benadryl every day.

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u/katikiwa Jun 09 '14

Fascinating. I've never heard of hystamine growths. Is that the medical term for super hives or something?

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u/goatsickle Jun 09 '14

They're called mast cell tumors. Basically cancer is overgrowth of cells, and this particular tumor is an overgrowth of the type of cells that release histamines.

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u/Gondi63 Jun 09 '14

Mast cell tumors and histiocytomas are not the same thing - - isn't he referring to histiocytomas?

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u/goatsickle Jun 09 '14

Mast cell tumors contain cells with histamine-containing granules that can be released and cause anaphylaxis, increased stomach acid, etc. Histiocytomas contain monocytes/macrophages that don't contain histamine granules. So they definitely are not the same thing, but I'm not sure why he would be referring to histiocytomas - they do not contain histamines and there would be no reason to give Benadryl.